A lot has happened in the Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency markets since our last edition of VC Roundup. The monumental collapse of the Terra ecosystem spilled over into other segments of the digital asset market, exposing over-leveraged traders, lending platforms and venture capital funds. In the process, Bitcoin’s price plumbed new lows, falling below the previous cycle’s peak for the first time in its history. Despite macro headwinds inflicting pain on the crypto markets, venture capital firms are still investing in the industry’s most promising startups. The latest edition of VC Roundup highlights funding deals for digital asset infrastructure providers, …

Community-driven gaming firm, Planetarium Labs, has raised $32 million in Series A funding, backed by Animoca Brands, Samsung Next and WeMade. The funds will be used to build a blockchain-based gaming ecosystem in which players can participate in the game network while also allowing members of the community a seat at the table. According to the announcement on Thursday, the firm is developing a gaming environment based on Libplanet blockchain technology, allowing gamers to join the game network while also providing users a voice in open-source content development. Planetarium Labs will invest in the expansion of basic tools for community-driven …

The Ministry of Economic Development of Italy has announced that certain blockchain projects will qualify to apply for up to $46 million in government subsidies starting from September. In a Tuesday announcement, the Ministry said companies and public or private research firms will be able to apply for funding from the government for the development of projects related to artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain technology. The fund will have an initial budget of 45 million euros — roughly $46 million at the time of publication — for expenses and costs from 500 thousand (worth $512,150) to 2 …

Sequoia Capital China, the Chinese affiliate of cryptocurrency-friendly venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, is about to raise $9 billion for its four new funds focused on Chinese startups. In raising the capital, Sequoia China has already exceeded its initial target of roughly $8 billion, The Information news agency reported on Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The report notes that the final amount of the raise is supposed to be the biggest pool of capital ever raised by a single VC firm focused on Chinese technology startups. The funding round signals the growing investor appetite for tech investment …

OP Crypto, a cryptocurrency venture capital firm founded by former Huobi executive David Gan, is launching a new fund to support emerging fund managers focused on early-stage crypto investments. Named “OP Funds of Funds I,” the fund has secured $50 million in commitments from major companies like FTX’s investment subsidiary LedgerPrime and FJ Labs. The OP FoF I will target a hard cap of $100 million, with founders planning to close out the fund by the end of Q3, OP Crypto’s chief operating officer Lucas He told Cointelegraph. The fund will work on identifying and supporting crypto fund managers with …

Cryptocurrency exchange Unizen has scored a $200 million investment from private equity group Global Emerging Markets (GEM), which it will use to expand its business and its ecosystem. Rather than receiving the $200 million in funding all at once, Unizen noted on Monday that the investment will come in the form of a “capital commitment,” with part of the funding released upfront and the rest will be provided later based on achieved milestones. Unizen did not disclose what particular criteria it had to achieve to receive the funding. Unizen calls itself a “CeDeFi” exchange mixing features of both centralized exchanges …

Despite the ongoing bearish trend in cryptocurrency markets, venture capital firms continue pouring capital into major industry players like FalconX. FalconX, the institutional-level digital asset platform and crypto brokerage, has raised $150 million in fresh funding as part of its Series D financing round. Completed in early June, the funding round values FalconX at $8 billion, more than doubling from its previous Series C-round valuation of $3.75 billion in August 2021, the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Wednesday. The firm has now raised more than $430 million in total. FalconX’s latest investment round was led by the Singaporean sovereign wealth …

BlockFi, a cryptocurrency exchange and digital wallet service provider, has secured a $250 million credit from leading crypto platform FTX. Today @BlockFi signed a term sheet with @FTX_Official to secure a $250M revolving credit facility providing us with access to capital that further bolsters our balance sheet and platform strength. — Zac Prince (@BlockFiZac) June 21, 2022 BlockFi has signed a term sheet with FTX crypto exchange to secure a $250 million revolving credit facility. A revolving credit facility is a type of credit that enables you to withdraw money, use it to fund your business, repay it and then …

Global banking network as a DAO Imagining a DAO-based global banking network may seem far-fetched at the moment, but not impossible. If blockchain technology is widely adopted within the financial industry, it is not hard to imagine a future in which banks are run as DAOs. In such a scenario, bank management would be decentralized, with power vested in the hands of the network’s members. Furthermore, the adoption of DAOs will likely result in a more equitable distribution of power within banks and financial institutions. It could lead to a more democratic form of governance, one that can better meet …

Ripple (XRP) price stares at potential losses in the coming weeks as it breaks out of a "descending triangle" pattern, with its bias skewed toward the downside. Major XRP breakdown underway To recap, XRP started forming the technical structure after reaching $1.98 in April 2021, its second-highest level to date. In doing so, the token trended lower inside a range defined by a falling resistance trendline and a horizontal support trendline. On May 16, 2022, XRP broke below the triangle's support trendline, accompanying a decent increase in trading volumes. The move confirmed the descending triangle as a bearish reversal indicator. …

Venture capital firm True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV4 Plus) has announced the closure of a $146 million funding round earmarked for a wide range of Web3 projects — highlighting investors’ continued interest in crypto despite an ongoing bear market. The latest closure, dubbed the TGV4 Plus Follow On Fund, was led by a group of 15 general partners who committed over $4 million on average (over 40%, or $62 million) into the fund. The majority of the funding will be primarily injected into Web3 companies within TGV’s portfolio, while the remaining will be used to invest in late-stage Web3 …

A potential legal battle has been prevented between the Merit Circle decentralized autonomous organization’s (DAO) backing company Merit Circle Ltd and Yield Guild Games (YGG) as the organizations reached a deal after the DAO originally voted to remove YGG. Merit Circle Ltd is a company that created the Merit Circle DAO to help gamers interested in play-to-earn games by lending items from its treasury to be used for gameplay, as well as delivering educational content. Speaking to Cointelegraph Gabby Dizon, Co-Founder of YGG said a DAO member took the current market conditions as an opportunity to pass a proposal canceling …